Mooring device for seaplanes



Feb. 24, 1959 D. J. KNIGHTON El AL- 2,87

' MOORING DEVICE FOR SEAPLANES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 2'7, 1956 INVENTORS DANIEL J. KAI/GHTON DONALD a. HAsER ATTORNEYS GEORGE A. F/EDLER Feb. 24, 1959 D. J. KNIGHTON ETAL 2, 7

MOORING DEVICE FOR SEAPLANES Filed Sept. 27, 1956 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS DAN/EL J K/V/GHTO/V DONALD 6'. HASER GEORGE A. F/EDLER ATTORNEYS Ram, 1959 D. J. KNIGHTON ET AL 2,874,921 MOORING DEVICE. FOR SEAPLANES Filed Sept. 27, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS DANIEL J. lf/V/GHTO/V 00mm 0. HASER GEORGE A. F/EDLER BY )2 ATTORNEYS United States PatentC MOORING DEVICE FOR SEAPLANES Daniel J. Knighton and Donald G. Haser, Baltimore County, and George A. Fiedler, Baltimore, Md., assignors, by mesne assignments, to the United States of America as represented by'the Secretary of the Navy Application September 27, 1956, Serial No. 612,570

3 Claims. (Cl. 244115 The present invention relates to a mooring device for seaplanes and more particularly to a mooring device having a latch pivoted to a hook in which a mooring cable is adapted to be picked up and the latch then rotated to securely lock the cable in engagement with the hook.

There are known devices for mooring seaplanes but the success of these known devices have been limited by their inability to properly support the high loads placed on them by the mooring cable in towing the seaplane into a dock.

The present invention provides a mooring device, located below the keel of the seaplane, having a latch pivoted to a hook wherein the lower end of the latch is engaged by a mooring cable as it is received in the hook, and the latch is then rotated to lock the cable in engagement with the hook. There are linkage means connected to the latch and hook that provide an over-dead center locking action to said latch and hook when the cable is locked. To release the cable, the locking action of the over-dead center linkage means on the latch and hook is broken thereby pivoting the latch and hook to allow the cable to be released.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a mooring device for securely receiving and automatically locking a mooring cable under heavy loads.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a mooring device which is simple in construction, reliable and efiicient in its purpose and inexpensive in manufacture.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a portion of the keel of a seaplane, showing the mooring device in locking position;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through a portion of the keel of the seaplane, showing the mooring device in a cable receiving position;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 in Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown in Fig. 1 an opening 6 provided in a keel of a seaplane, the mooring device 7 being positioned within said opening and extending below the surface of the keel 5. As best seen in Fig. 3, a latch 9 and a hook 10 are rotatably mounted on bolt or shaft 11 whose ends are journalled in a watertight housing 14. The hook 10 and latch 9 are freely movable in relation to each other and the watertight housing 14 due to the spacing washers 8. The lower end 18 of the latch 9 is received in opening 15 (Fig. 3) formed by spaced forwardly facing arms 16 and 17 of the hook 10. Pivotally connected to latch 9 by bolt 13 is an upwardly extending link 19 which is pivotally connected by bolt 21 to an arm 20. An adjustable stop 22 protruding from the watertight housing 14 is provided for a purpose to be herein- 2,874,921 Patented Feb. 24, 1959 after described. The upper end of arm 20 is secured to a hollow tube 23 by a tapered pin 24, hollow tube 23 having its ends journalled in housing 14. Also secured to tube 23 by tapered pin 29 is an L-shaped lever 25 which has a sloping outer end 26. An arm 27 is pivotally connected to the other end of L-shaped lever 25 by an eye bolt 28. Spring 31 is anchored at one end to an eye of bolt 32 on the watertight housing 14 and at its other end to the eye of bolt 28.

Pivotally connected to book 10 by bolt 12 is an upwardly extending link 34 which is pivotally connected by bolt 35 to arm 36. An adjustable stop 37, similar to stop 22, protrudes from housing 14 towards link 34. The other end of arm 36 is secured to hollow tube 38 by tapered pin 41. Hollow tube 38 has its ends journalled in the watertight housing 14, and has one end of a lever 42 secured thereto by tapered pin 43. A spring 45 is anchored at one end to an eye of bolt 46 secured to housing 14 and at the other end to an eyelet 44 which is assembled with lever 42. A bolt 47 passing through lever 42,

is slidingly received in a slot 43 in arm 27. On the other end of link 42 is mounted a Wheel 49 and in the position shown in Fig. 1 there is a clearance between wheel 49 and the sloping end 26 of the L-shaped lever 25. Wheel 49 is adapted to engage the sloping end 26 to produce a oneway sliding connection therebetween.

One end of connecting rod 55 is pivotally connected at 54 to boss 53 which is formed integrally with lever 42. The other end of connecting rod 55 extends above and at the side of the watertight housing 14 and is pivotally con nected at 56 to an arm 57 which is secured to a hollow tube 59 by tapered pin 58. Hollow tube 59 has its ends journalled in floor supports 76, and has secured thereto by tapered pin 62 one end of an arm 61. Bulkheads 77 are positioned fore and aft of housing 14 and support the watertight housing 14. Floor supports run between bulkheads 77 for support of flooring and actuating mechanism 63 and 61.

A treadle lever 63 is pivotally mounted at 64 and has a wheel 65 mounted at the lower end thereof. A safety cord 67 anchored at 68 to the floor supports 76 is fastened to pin 66 which extends through an opening in the lower end of the treadle lever 63 and an opening in the arm 61. Pin 66 is adapted to be pulled out of engagement with lever 63 and arm 61.

One end of a spring 69 is anchored to ear 71 protruding from the bulkhead 77 and the other end engages ear 72 which is integral with the lower end of lever 63. The spring 69 normally holds the lever 63 against a stop 74, as shown in Fig. 1. Lever 63 has another position shown in. dotted lines, in which it abuts stop 70.

The lever 61 is movable into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1.

In the operation of the mooring device the latch 9 must be in the cocked, cable receiving position as shown in Fig. 2, to be able to pick up the mooring cable 73.

The procedure for cocking the latch 9 is as follows:

Referring to Fig. l, a member of the crew of the seaplane first pulls pin 66 out of engagement with lever 63 and arm 61, then steps down on lever 63 until it reaches the position indicated by the dotted lines (Fig. 1). The wheel 65 mounted on the lower end of lever 63 would then engage the arm 61 forcing it upwardly thereby breaking over dead centers 21 and 35. The arm 61 would then be above the level of the floor 75 of the seaplane and the member of the crew would manually grasp the lever 61 and pull it into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1. As can be seen from reference to Figs. 1 and 2, when the arm 61 is pulled upwardly the connecting rod 55 pivots lever 42 about hollow tube 38 whereby the wheel 49 mounted on lever 42 engages the sloping end of the L-shaped lever 25 camming the lever 25 upwardly into the position shown in Fig. 2. The spring 31 secured to the L-shaped lever 25 by eye bolt 28 assists in rotating the lever 25 upwardly, since the spring 31 tensions the lower part of the lever 25 towards the car 32 while the spring 31 is below the axis of tube 23. When the lever 25 is cammed upwardly by the action of wheel 49 on sloping end 26, the spring 31 will be positioned above the axis of tube 23, thereby causing a snap action of the lever 25 in a counterclockwise direction.

At the same time, when lever 42 is rotated by connecting rod 55, the L-shaped lever 25 will pull lever 20, link 19 and latch 9 into the position shown in Fig. 2. The latch 9 is then in the cocked position and the lower end 18 thereof is ready to receive the cable 73. In the same operation, the hook 10 is also rotated in a counterclockwise direction by the action of links 34, and lever 36 in response to the rotation of lever 42. The rotation of hook 10, in a counterclockwise direction, will release the mooring cable 73 if in the locked position, as shown in Fig. 1.

To complete the operation, arm 61 is then pushed back into the solid line position shown in Fig. 1 whereby the latch 9 will remain in the cocked position as shown in Fig. 2 by the lost motion connection between lever 42 and arm 27 as bolt 47 merely slides in the slot 48 of the freely pivoted arm 27. But lever 42 is connected through hollow tube 38, lever 36 and link 34 to the hook 10 and when the arm 61 is rotated'into the solid line position of Fig. 1, the hook 10 is rotated in a clockwise direction as shown in the cable receiving position of Fig. 2.

A locking action is provided for hook 10 by the positioning of link 34 and lever 36 in relation to a theoretical center line drawn between the pivotal axes of bolt 12 and tube 38. The stop 37 is adjusted to allow link 34 and lever 36 to be positioned in an over-dead center position whereby the pivotal axes of bolt 35 is to the right of the theoretical center line, as viewed in Fig. 1. The mooring device is now in the position shown in Fig. 2.

Upon the engagement of cable 73 with the lower end 18 of the latch 9, and the bight portion of the hook 10, the latch 9 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction, thereby pulling link 19, and levers 20 and downwardly towards the position shown in Fig. 1. Here again the spring 31 aids in rotating the latch 9 for when the spring 31 is positioned on the lower side of the axis of tube 23, a snap action is exerted on the L-shaped link 25 to reposition the links 19 and 20 into the position shown in Fig. 1. Latch 9 will be in a locked position when in the position shown in Fig. 1, because of the action of link 19, lever 20 and stop 22 which operate in the same manner as described for link 34, lever 36 and stop .37. Referring to Fig. 1, it is seen that the cable 73 is securely engaged between the latch and hook 9 and 10 and by the over-dead center positioning of links 19 and 20 and links 34 and 36, a locking action is provided to the latch and hook 9 and 10.

To release the cable 73 from the mooring device 7 the same procedure is followed as if the latch 9 was to be rotated into the cocked position as shown in Fig. 2.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

1. A mooring device in a seaplane for engaging and holding a mooring cable comprising the combination of a hook and latch mounted within the keel of a seaplane, said hook extending below the undersurface of said seaplane, a latch having a means on one end thereof to close said hook when in active position, a shaft rotatably mounting said hook and said latch on a common axis, said latch being rotatable between a cable locking position and a cocked position, said hook being rotatable between a cable receiving position and a cable releasing position, said latch having a cable receiving end spaced from said closing means, said cable receiving end being positioned adjacent the bight of said hook when the latch is in the cocked position, first linkage means connected to said latch for moving said latch from said cable locking position to said cocked position, second linkage means connected to said hook for moving said hook from said cable receiving position to said cable releasing position, a lost-motion connection between said first and second linkage means, actuating means connected to said first and second linkage means, said actuating means being movable between a first and a second position, whereby in moving to said first position the actuating means moves said first and second linkage means to cock said latch and release the cable in said hook and in moving to said second position the actuating means moves said second linkage means so that the latch remains in the cocked position due to the lost-motion connection and the hook is rotated into the cable receiving position, and whereby the closing means on said latch is rotated to the locking position to lock the cable within the book when the cable engages the lower cable receiving end of the latch.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 and said first and second linkage means comprising spring-loaded links and levers providing a locking action on said latch and said book when in an over-dead center position, and adjustable stop means secured to said seaplane to limit the movement of the linkage means when in the over-dead center locking position.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 and said seaplane having a floor therein, said actuating means being underneath the floor when in said second position, a safety means for releasing said actuating means for movement to said second position, whereby the actuating means can only be rotated from the first position to the second position when the safety means is released.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,429,761 Ketel Oct. 28, 1947 2,497,415 Parker Feb. 14, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 919,839 France Dec. 16, 1946 

